My Best Friend's Boyfriend
by RECH2O
Summary: Best friends are great to have. Boy friends are even better, but there are just oneperson you nenver want to sepend a lot of time a lone with, your best friends boyfriend. Trouble is up a head for our mermaids when they spend time with theses men.
1. Chapter 1: the rain and the sun

_Summery: One night and three words leaves theses two teens siblings. How will this event change the life of one of our mermaids forever? A little research some and some big news leaves this two teens living only rooms away. Will this be just a small problem or a real nightmare? One big fire leaves this mermaid's house in ashes. When she learns who she will be staying with, are things going to be great or nerve raking? Read to find out. _

Chapter 1: The Rain and the Sun 

"It's just the water running down my face as it falls from the darkened sky, the sound of the drops as they hit the rocks around me. I can't even start to write about the sounds as I close my eyes. The drips and drops compared to the crash and booms. Then I open my eyes and right in front of me, the lightning, flashing so bright. The feel of my wet hair on my back and my wet clothes sticking to my skin, it's all I can think about, to be out in the rain." Their teacher stopped reading.

Lewis looked over to where Emma and Cleo sat. They had their eyes closed. Who knows what went through their minds? It was ether fear or excitement.

"Now like Sophie Gray, I want you to write a described paragraph of a feeling you enjoy. It could be the Sun on a hot day or the snow when you sit in a storm. Just be creative," Their teacher explained their homework.

Just then the bell rang. The class started out the door. Lewis stayed back and waited for the two girls. They were taking longer then usual, spending time talking about the story they just heard.

"Come on you two. It's taking you longer to leave then it did to come in," Lewis complained.

The girls looked over at Lewis and smiled. They picked up their books and followed him out the door. Outside they saw Rikki and Zane coming from the opposite direction. Emma and Cleo waved and ran over to Rikki.

"So remind me why we go to school," Rikki said.

"Because the government wants us to be smart and our parents won't let us ditch," Cleo pointed out.

Emma laughed at her two friends then said, "Look my grandmother is in town and she can be quite controlling. We've already put out scented candles and cleaned the whole house."

"How long did that take you… 5 minuets," Rikki said sarcastically.

"Very funny, I have to go," Emma said starting towered her house. She ran most of the way but slowed down right before she got to the door. She opened the door to find Elliot and her parents sitting with her grandmother.

"Oh my Emmy dear, you've grown so much," her grandmother said giving Emma a big hug.

"Hi, Grandma, how have you been?" Emma asked with a smile.

"I've been fine dear. What on earth is that?" her grandmother asked pointing to her locket. "I want you to take that thing off and put this on." Her grandmother held up a necklace with a pink, mermaid charm.

Emma smiled, took a deep breath, and took her locket off. She gave it one last look and placed it in her jacket pocket. Then she looked at the necklace her grandma gave her and put it around her neck.

Rikki

Rikki walked into her trailer to find her dad sitting at the table with papers surrounding him. When Rikki walked in, he looked up and smiled. Then he went strait back into his work. Rikki sat down next to him and took a look at what he was reading. It just some letters from her aunts. She wondered what in the world her father was doing with letters from his sisters he had not even talked to since he left for college.

"Dad what are you doing with letters from Aunt Katie and Aunt Becky?" Rikki asked pulling over one of the letters he was not looking at.

Her dad looked up at her. Rikki looked back at her dad. She pushed the letter from her Aunt Katie back into the center of the table. Her father still did not move. She gave him a week smile.

"Look, sweetie, I'm going to look for better work in the city, but I want you to stay with one of your aunts. I'm just trying to decide which aunt would be more suitable, Katie, my little sister with brains but no good judgment, or Becky, my twin with 7 kids of her own. Then there is Gabby, my big sister who I was never close to." Her dad looked back down at the letters.

"Who's Gabby? I thought you only had two sisters," Rikki asked.

"I never talked to Gabby. She always seemed in her own world. I think she lives somewhere around here. I believe I have her number around here somewhere," her dad said picking up another letter. He looked at it for a second and shouted, "Here it is!"

Rikki took the letter. It was from Aunt Katie and at the bottom was Aunt Gabby's phone number. It also said she lived in this town, and she had 5 sons. They where 14, 12, 9, 6, and 2-years-old. Rikki saw that this was over 7 years ago, when she was 9. That meant that she had a cousin, who was a boy, lived around here, and was her age. That would be a better place to stay then with an aunt who would ignore her or her 7 other unruly cousins who were ether into sports or makeup.

"I think I'm going to call Gabby. You will love her," her dad said picking up the phone.

Mako 

Emma sat next to Cleo and Rikki on the beach at Mako Island. Lewis came running up after he docked his boat. Cleo gave him a sweet smile.

"So how was your grandmother, and where is your locket?" Rikki asked Emma.

"My grandma made me take it off. She told me I had to wear this," Emma told her friends and showed them the mermaid necklace.

"Man it is hot. I'm going to put my jacket in Lewis's boat. Want me to take yours?" Cleo asked taking off her jacket. Emma handed her jacket to Cleo.

"Where's your grandma now?" Rikki asked.

"My parents took her out to dinner. Elliot and are were free to do anything we wanted," Emma told him.

Once Cleo got back to them they all started up with a sand fight, then a chase. They spent hours there just messing around. They didn't even notice the time till it started to get dark.

"Look guys I have to go," Emma said leaving.

"I should be going to. Kim will be home any secant from her friend's, and she and my father would be mad if she is alone," Cleo said giving Lewis a kiss then leaving as well.

Just then Lewis pulled Emma's jacket from his boat and said, "Em left her jacket. You want to take it to her?"

"I guess I'll take it to her," Rikki said taking Emma's jacket, putting it on and leaving.


	2. Chapter 2: candles and cake

Chapter 2: Candles and Cake 

Cleo stepped into her house just four minutes before Kim and 8 minutes before her dad. Both Kim and Cleo were surprised to see their dad home so early. He was holding a covered tray. Something was not right.

"Dad, why are you carrying a tray?" Cleo asked.

"Oh, this? It's just some cake… from the picnic," their dad answered.

"What picnic? You were at work," Kim said. "I saw you there."

Cleo gave him a she's-right look. Then she and Kim stood there and just starred at their dad. After almost a whole minute of silence, Don smiled at his two daughters and said, "Who wants cake?"

The girls put aside the fact that their father was keeping something from them and followed him into the kitchen. The cakes were in nice little pieces and there were like ten different flavors. Each piece had a little card that told you what flavor each cake was. There were flavors from Vanilla to Double White Chocolate. The girls were even more confused now then they were before. Still they had small bites of each cake, like a taste test.

"Ok, so I was thinking tomorrow night that we go out to dinner, you know, like a family," he told his daughters. "I was thinking you two would love to go out, meet my new girl friend, and have something not out of the microwave," their father said.

"What did you just say?" Cleo asked.

"Look I know I didn't tell you about Niela, but you two will love her and her three kids. There's an eight-year-old little girl, a girl your age, Kim, and a boy your age, Cleo. We'll meet them tomorrow," Don said giving both his daughters a kiss on the forehead. "So which is the best?"

"I'll get back to you," Cleo said slowly getting up and heading up to her room.

Rikki 

Rikki walked in her trailer and tossed Emma's jacket on the couch. Then she walked into her father's room. He was sitting there with the phone against his shoulder.

"That's really sweet of you Gabs, thanks. I'll see you tomorrow," he said hanging up the phone. "Sweetie, your aunt Gabby said that you can stay with her while I'm staying in the city. She said you would love her place and her five boys. I'm going to take you over tomorrow afternoon."

"How long do you think you'll be gone?" Rikki asked disappointed.

"I don't know, princess. It might be awhile, but Gabby said you can stay with her as long as you need to. I'm sure it won't be that long," he said giving Rikki a kiss on the forehead.

Rikki gave him a small smile. Then she left and walked over to her room. She looked at the pitchers hung on her wall. She dragged her finger over her mothers face, the smile. It matched the smile Rikki gave in the pitcher of her and her friends. It was sad for Rikki to think of her mother, but she wanted to keep this pitcher close, as well as the pitcher of Cleo, Emma, and her.

Rikki took down her suitcases and started to pack anything that might come in handy in a house of boys. She took anything that smelled nice, looked nice, or was nice. She stuffed everything into three bags without folding anything. Then she took everything to the living room and got it ready for the trip to her aunt's house, even thought she had no idea what it would be like.

Emma 

Emma walked home just as she had done a million times. Everything was fine till she rounded the corner and saw fire trucks and people outside of her house. She ran the rest of the way home to find her parents, grandmother, and brother standing outside with on of the firefighters.

"What's going on," she asked.

"One of the candles tipped on to a towel and started a huge fire. It's out now, but a lot was lost," Elliot informed Emma.

"Ok, you are free to see the damage," the firefighter told the Gilberts.

Emma stepped into the now blackened house. The whole first floor was ether blackened or in ashes. The couch was gone and so was the counter, the tables and anything on them. Emma was secants from tears. She ran right passed her brother and parents on her way up to her room.

"Carful upstairs. There might be week spots, sweetie," her mother called.

Emma ran into her room and looked around. The place was covered in ashes and quite smoky. She looked at her bedside table, nothing was there. She looked to where her dresser was. There was also nothing. Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at her blackened swim trophies, mettles, and brunt pitchers. Under her bed, where she kept anything mermaid related, was completely brunt. She carefully sat on her blackened bed and stared to cry. That's when she felt her cell phone in her pocket. Quickly she pulled it out and dialed Cleo's number.

"Hello," Cleo answered.

"Cleo, something really bad has happened," Emma cried.

"Emma, what's happened? Are you crying?" Cleo asked.

"My house caught fire. We've lost everything. Even my…"

"Your what?"

"My locket, my locket's been brunt in the fire, along with everything else in my house."

"Emma that's terrible. Why don't you come and stay with me tonight."

"That might help."

Emma hung up thinking _It might be nice to be with friends tonight. After what just happened. _


	3. Chapter 3:lockets and friends

Chapter 3: Lockets and Friends 

Rikki was in the living room, going through the old magazines sitting on the table. There was nothing to do when she was home alone. Her room was packed up, and so were all of the other things in her trailer. The only thing still left out were some old books, food, the magazines, and Em's jacket. None of those things were going to entertain her.

Just then her phone rang. Rikki let the magazines fall to the ground as she jumped to answer the phone. It was Cleo.

"What's happening, Cleo?" Rikki asked.

"It's Emma. Her house caught fire. She lost everything… even her locket. She's staying over here tonight. I thought it would be better if we both were there," Cleo told her.

"I'm on my way," Rikki said hanging up the phone.

She wrote a note to her father and started toward the door. That's when she remembered Emma's jacket. Rikki went to pick it up, but when she did something fell out of the pocket. Rikki gasped.

Cleo and Emma 

Cleo sat with Emma on her bed. Emma was so upset that she couldn't even cry anymore. Cleo's room was quiet, not a sound could be heard. Neither girl was keeping there mind in one place. They were so caught up that when Rikki came into the room neither of the girls looked up until she said something

"Sorry about your house, Em," Rikki said, "but I think I have something to cheer you up." She pulled Emma's jacket from behind her back.

"How is my jacket going to cheer me up?" Emma asked.

"Rikki, this is not a joke," Cleo said firmly.

Rikki smile and stuck her hand in the pocket of Emma's jacket. Then she pulled out a chain followed by an oval shaped pendent.

"MY LOCKET!" Emma cried jumping up and grabbing it.

She put it on and wrapped Rikki in a hug she could not get out of. After a lot of struggle, Rikki got free from Emma.

"You found this in my jacket?" Emma asked.

"Yeah, it was in the pocket. You must have forgotten," Rikki said.

After the little locket, jacket, and Rikki incident, Cleo and Rikki dedicated the rest of the night to cheering Emma up. Anything that they knew would make her laugh was played, jokes, stories, and even some old pictures, nothing worked. Emma freaked out when any mention of the Merriam story, the cut finger story or any of the Ash stories. She hid from most the pictures of her and Cleo when they were little, even if it was Cleo making a fool of herself. For the jokes, let's just say, Emma doesn't think Rikki is funny at all. Soon Emma did fall asleep on Cleo's bed while they watched old home movies on a portable DVD player.

"I thought she would never stop crying," Rikki whispered.

"It's just a tough spot for her. Though I did think she was over doing it when she refused to look at any of the pictures of me when I was five. Those were the funniest," Cleo whispered.

They both looked over at Emma lying on Cleo's bed. Then they looked back at each other.

Morning 

Emma woke up in Cleo's bed. Cleo was still asleep on her beanbag, and Rikki was asleep in her sleeping bag at the end of Cleo's bed. Emma held her locket and looked up at the ceiling. Lying in Cleo's silent room was just starting to bring Emma down more. Still she could not wake the girls. They were up late trying to make her happier. It was least she could do not to wake them up at 8:00am.

Cleo turned over and saw that Emma was up. She sat up and smiled. Emma smiled back. Neither of them want to speak, scared they would wake Rikki, only a few feet away.

Just then Emma's phone rang. She answered it quickly so the noise didn't wake Rikki. It was her mother.

"Right…. I'll see you then… bye mom." Emma hung up her phone just as Rikki started to wake up.

"What's up?" Cleo asked.

"My mom said one of my dad's friends was going to let us stay with them. I was going to meet my family at Elliot's friend's house. I don't have a good feeling about this," Emma said.

"Do you know who?" Rikki asked in a sleepish tone.

"Didn't say. Probably one of his work buddies," Emma answered. "I have to go."

Emma jumped out of bed, grabbed her jacket and was out the door. Cleo gave Rikki an I-have-a-bad-feeling-about-this look.

"Well then I won't be the only one not in my own house," Rikki said changing the subject.

"What do you mean?" Cleo asked.

"My dad's just staying in the city for awhile, and I'll be staying with my cousins. They live around here, but I haven't even met them before. My dad kept this sister a secret, like he didn't want us to meet, like she's a crook," Rikki said.

"I think she's fine if your dad's letting you stay there," Cleo said. "At least it was just a sister your dad kept secret, I meeting my dad's girl friend, who I found out about yesterday. I don't even know how long they've known each other for," Cleo told her friend.

"If he kept her a secret, it can't be long, can it?" Rikki asked.

"I don't know, but I better get dressed," Cleo said jumping up off the beanbag.

"Yeah, I have to go as well," Rikki said leaving.

Emma 

Emma rushed up to her family as fast as she could. She just wanted to know where she was staying, and if it was still in town.

"Em, you'll love this, guess who offered his house to us," her mum said when she got to them.

"Who?" Emma asked anxiously.

"The Bennett's! Harrison was so sorry for what happen that he offered to let us stay with him and Zane. Isn't that great?" her mum told her.

Emma just stood there in shock.


	4. Chapter 4: Dinners and Bedrooms

Chapter 4: Dinners and Bedrooms 

Cleo followed her father into the restaurant. She and Kim were in nice dresses and ready to meet there father's new girl friend. The restaurant was full and they had to look around for Niela and her three kids. Soon Don spotted a tall burnet woman sitting with two little girls. They walked over to the table and the woman stood up.

"Hey, Donny," Niela said.

"Hey, Niela, I want to introduce you to my two daughters, Kim and Cleo," Don said putting his arm around Cleo.

"They are so pretty, and this is Annie and Ally," She said pointing to the two little girls sitting at the table. "And this is my son." Niela said motioning to a boy walking toward the table. "This is Ash."

Cleo stared at her best friend's boyfriend. Ash had the same reaction.

Rikki 

Rikki took a deep breath and rang the door bell. There was a crash, a yell, and a bang. Rikki looked at her dad. He smiled back at her. Then the door opened. A woman stood there.

"You must be Rikki," She said giving Rikki a hug. "Terry, your daughter is so adorable. You can count on her being safe here with me, my husband, and 5 boys."

There was another crash and two little boys came running out of the living room.

"Boys meet your cousin, Rikki. Rikki this is Luke and his little brother Liam. They are the babies of the family." Gabby said just as another boy, who was like 20, came into the room. "And this is my oldest son, Larry. He's 22."

Rikki smiled at the three boys who were now staring at her. Just then two boys came into the foyer. One of the boys was backwards to her and the other was familiar.

"And my two middle boys, Lenny and Lewis."

Lewis spun around and stopped in his tracks when he saw Rikki.

Emma and Zane 

Emma walked into the room Harrison set up for her. It had pink walls, a white bedspread and white furniture. There were also paintings of fairies, and unicorns everywhere. There were even little fairy and unicorn busts and dolls all over the room.

Out of no where Zane said, "I cleaned the place out of anything mermaid. You can thank me later."

Emma spun to face the door. Zane was standing in the doorway with a big smile on his face. Emma gave him a quick smile and then turned back to look around the room.

"Where did your dad get all this girly stuff? I thought it was just you two here," Emma asked.

"When I was little my cousin Pan stayed here all the time. Then she got her own apartment," Zane told her. "Anyway, the bathroom is across the hall. Sorry everyone has to share. I know this will bug you, Ice Princess."

Emma smiled a fake I-know-you-think-you're-better-than-me smile and said, "It won't be hard for me, I share with my brother all the time. Now I'm sorry that you will have to share. I know you're Daddy's little boy and always get what you want."

Zane gave Emma a look that said "I accept the challenge." He smiled and left the doorway. Emma looked to where he was standing and laughed at the idea of Zane beating her in anything.

Cleo and Ash 

Cleo sat face to face with Ash, Kim next to her and Ally across from Kim. Annie sat across from her mother and on the other side of Cleo. Don sat at the end of the table. The parents did most of the talking. The kids did not speak unless asked a question.

"So, Cleo, Don tells me that you work at a marine park, is that right?" Niela asked.

"Yes, that's right," Cleo answered.

"Oh and I know everything about Ash just from over hearing Cleo and her friends talk," Don said as he and Niela laughed.

Cleo gave him a look that said "Stop it!" Then she looked back at her meal. Ash, on the other hand, did not notice the change in atmosphere.

Kim looked up at Ally and smiled. Ally gave Kim a weak smile back. Niela looked into Don's eyes and they stayed quiet for awhile. Cleo rolled her eyes and Ash saw. He also rolled his yes to show Cleo he agreed without talking. Annie looked over to her big sister and they had some enter mind conversation. Cleo eyed Kim, and Kim looked up at her. Ash and Ally had a brother/sister conversation just with there eyes.

"Hey Niel, I think its time to break the news," Don said.

"I think you're right, Donny," Niela said with a smile.

With the mention of news all 5 kids looked straight at the parents. They were glad to finally have there attention and not have them having 5 different silent conversations with each other.

"Ok, I guess I'll just say it," Don said eyeing his girls. "We're getting married… in two days."

Ash choked on his drink. Ally and Kim gasped. Cleo dropped the bread stick she was holding. Annie pulled her hands to her mouth. In result, Annie knocked her water over into Cleo's lap. Cleo jumped up faster than fast as was gone from the table before anyone could ask what she was doing. Ash jumped up, a bit slower, and followed her.

"I think they took that well," Niela said looking at Don.

Rikki 

Dinner with her cousins did not go how Rikki thought it was going to go. In fact it was quite the opposite.

Rikki sat in between Lenny and Lewis. Luke, Liam, and Larry were right across from them. Gabby and her husband, James, sat at ether end of the table. Not only was it uncomfortable for Rikki to sit next to her best friend's boyfriend, the two little boys could not go a secant without something falling on the floor, or flying across the table. Both Rikki and Lewis were scared that any secant those two boys would spill something, and somehow get Rikki wet. Luckily that never happened.

After dinner Lewis took Rikki back to her room. It had red walls and a black bedspread. There were Hawaiian flowers hung in every corner, and placed on every shelf. Rikki looked around.

"I would say sorry it's a bit ungirly, but since you don't like that stuff anyway, I guess I shouldn't bother," Lewis said.

Rikki looked at him.

"Look, I'll talk to my brothers, make sure they don't kill you or anything," Lewis said with a laugh.

"Ok, then I'll try to be nice," Rikki said.

"Don't do anything stupid. I'm not going to save your butt from my older brother."

"You're not going to have to save my butt. I'm not a baby."

"You don't know my brother. He could be kind of… mean."

"I'll be fine, Lewis."

Lewis took one more look around the room, then left. Rikki looked around her new room and sighed.


	5. Chapter 5: Kids and pranks

Chapter 5: Kids and Pranks 

"She'll be quite fine here…. Of course… I'll see you tomorrow." Don hung up the phone just as Cleo stepped into the kitchen.

"Who'll be fine here?" She asked sitting down next to her father.

"Well, princess, Angela's father has been killed. You know my brother-in-law. Now she needs a place to stay that is not with her mother. So I offered with us. She'll be here for the wedding," Don told his daughter.

Cleo was speechless. First he puts her with Emma's boyfriend now her evil cousin. This was not going to be fun.

Kim straggled in. She was half a sleep and had hard everything. She went in and sat down next to Cleo. Cleo gave her sister a quick look then looked back to her father.

Just then the door bell rang. Don jumped up and answered it. Niela was there with Ally, Annie and Ash. Don invited them in. Ash smiled at Cleo as Don told Niela about Angela. Niela then told him about her best friend and sister's tragic death. She then told him about how this would leave her best friend's triplets and her sister's twins and older daughter.

"As far as I can tell, I'm going to be the only boy out of eleven girls. This will be fun," Ash whispered to Cleo.

Cleo motioned for Ash to follow her upstairs. There she let him into her room. He sat on her bed as she closed the door.

"What is it?" he asked.

"The wedding night, it's tomorrow. Tomorrow is the full moon. That's really bad," Cleo told him.

"You mean like the dinner with Emma?" Ash asked.

"What dinner?" Cleo asked with confusion.

"Never mind. What do you think you're going to do? I hope it does not involve telling Emma."

"I have to. We don't keep secrets… from each other," Cleo said rethinking what she just said. "Actually, I don't think we should tell anyone, not even Rikki or Zane. They'll somehow tell the others and I don't think Em, and Lewis could handle it."

"Right and the full moon?"

Cleo looked at him and sighed. She looked up then back at him. "I'll think of something. I promise it won't be suspicious. If you have not figured it out, I can keep secrets pretty well."

"Yeah, and I can keep my sisters from fighting. But I guess I have no other choice. I'll go for whatever you think of." Ash said giving Cleo a look.

Rikki and Lewis 

Rikki woke up to a crash outside her room. There were two screams and some strong foot steps. Then a door slam. Rikki slid out of bed and opened her door to see Luke banging on Liam's bedroom door. Lenny watched as his brothers fought for the millionth time. Lewis straggled out of his room to see what the commotion was.

"Lewis, make Liam redo the homework he messed up," Luke called to his brother.

Liam opened his door and looked over at his older brother. He then said, "I didn't mean to spill the water. Luke was the one who pushed me."

"Where's mom? She can take this," Lewis answered.

"She, Dad, and Larry left an hour ago," Lenny told his little brother. "You're in charge."

"Why me?" Lewis asked taking Luke by the arm.

"Because I can't be bothered," Larry said motioning for Rikki to high five him.

Rikki gave him a high five with a laugh. Then they started towered the kitchen, but Lewis grabbed Rikki's arm too. He pulled her into his room and sat her on his bed. Then he gave her a long look.

"What do you want?" Rikki asked.

"Tomorrow night, the full moon, you three. I mean we can't tell Cleo about this."

"Why not?" Rikki asked.

"I don't think she'll or Zane will like it much. So we should not tell anyone. Got it," Lewis said.

"About tomorrow night, I guess we'll just have to be really careful."

"I don't know about Emma or Cleo, but I'll be here for you."

Rikki looked at him and smiled. Then she quickly looked away. There was another crash and then Luke screaming, "Liam!!" Lewis jumped up and said, "There is no brake in my world."

Rikki followed him out into the living room. Sitting on the floor was a bowl of milk, a spilt glass of water, Luke's wet homework, and a bunch of half drunken soda cans. _The marine park has less water dangers. _Rikki thought, walking into the kitchen. Lewis, Luke and Liam were already sitting at the table. Lewis was talking to the boys about fighting and being nice. Luke was playing with his water cup and Liam was tipping his juice.

"Hey, Rikki, take a seat. You can learn from this speech," Lewis said.

"Ummm… no. I'm going to… hide in my room," Rikki said heading out of the kitchen.

Lewis grabbed her by the arm and whispered, "I'll talk to my brothers about cleaning up and drying up. I'm not going to let you get hurt."

"And I won't tell anyone we are living under one rough. You really won't let me get hurt."

"If you get hurt, it's most likely going to hurt Cleo, get it."

Rikki playfully hit him on the arm and started back to her room. 

Emma and Zane 

Emma opened her eyes to see a set of eyes looking right back at her. She sat up to see mermaid pictures, dolls and statues where the fairies and unicorns were last night. Without thinking, Emma shrieked. Zane peeked his head into her room. He was laughing.

"What's the matter, Ice Princess, a rude awakening? I thought you loved this kind of thing," Zane said still laughing. "Like the surprise? It was what was supposed to be in this room, before you moved in."

"Zane, what is with the joke? It was not funny," Emma said. "And I don't think Rikki would think it was funny."

"You're not going to tell her, are you?"

"Of course I am. Unless you have some reason to think that that would be a bad idea."

Zane sat down on the bed next to Emma and gave her a you-think look. She jumped up and started to take the mermaid things down. Then she looked back to Zane who was still sitting on the bed.

"Are you going to leave?" Emma asked.

"Are you going to tell Rikki and the others about us?" Zane asked.

"You say yes to leaving and I say no to telling the others, got it. And when I say leaving I mean alone. No more pranks."

Zane stood up and started for the door. On his way out, he picked up one of the little mermaid dolls. He held it by both arms and smiled. _No Pranks. Yeah right. _He thought.

Emma looked at him. She couldn't trust that he would just lay off the pranks just because she asked.

A minute latter, Emma stepped into the hall to see Zane just going into the bathroom. As soon as the door closed, Emma set her ear against the door. She waited till she heard the shower water running, and then stood up. After the water was on for half a minute, Emma stuck out her hand and turned the warm water running over Zane into ice cubes hitting his head. Emma started to giggle. She quickly ran down stairs before Zane had time to get out of the shower. As soon as he was dressed for the day he too ran down stairs to find Emma sitting in the kitchen alone.

"I thought you said no pranks. What would you call what you just did?" Zane asked.

"I call it revenge. If you keep up with the pranks then I'll keep up with the revenge, understood," Emma told him taking a piece of toast for breakfast and heading out of the kitchen.


	6. Chapter 6: Parties and Lies

Chapter 6: Parties and Lies

Ash finished clearing a table as Cleo came into the Juice Net Café. As soon as she saw Emma across the room she slowed from a run to a walk. She waited till Emma was not looking then grabbed Ash by the arm. She pulled him into the back room and then let him go.

"So I got a plan," Cleo told him.

"You have a plan, for what?" Ash asked.

"For tonight, the full moon, the wedding," Cleo answered him.

"Right, that. So what is the plan?" Ash asked picking up a box of fruit.

Cleo smiled then said, "Follow my lead."

Ash followed Cleo out into the main room. There Emma was talking with Rikki and Lewis. They were sitting on the other side of the café. Cleo and Ash came over. Emma looked up and confused.

"Can we talk about tonight?" Cleo asked.

"Of course. That is what I wanted to talk about anyway," Lewis said.

"Really, well I was just going to tell you that my dad has this party to go to tonight and I have to come and play the sweet daughter thing," Cleo said as Zane walk up to them.

"I get what you are saying. I've been there before," Zane said sitting next to Rikki.

"Yeah, but you aren't a mermaid who would get moonstruck and ruin your secret. I don't think you should be alone tonight," Lewis said.

"Well that's just it, I won't be alone. Ash will be there," Cleo said with a smile.

Ash looked at her then jumped in on the plan. "Yeah, my mom is going too. So Cleo will be with me tonight. She'll be fine."

"I don't know. I mean the closest you have ever been to the girls when they were moonstruck was when you tried to make dinner for Emma."

"When?" Cleo and Rikki asked in unison.

"Yeah, and I still don't remember how that turned out," Emma pointed out.

"That is not important. What is important is where everyone will be tonight. If Ash has Cleo, we just need to see where you two will be," Lewis said looking at Rikki and Emma.

"I'll be at my dad's friend's house. I'll have my phone on all night," Emma told them.

"Right the nameless friend. I don't know. You'll be alone," Lewis said. "If we keep it like that then I will call every hour. And Ash I will always have my phone on me, any questions just call."

"Everything will be fine. Don't worry, man," Ash said as he and Emma got back to work.

Before the wedding (Ash and Cleo) 

The door bell rang at the Sentori's. Cleo ran down the stairs to answer the door. Angela had gotten there only minutes ago. Ash was at the door with more decorations for the church and hotel where the wedding and after party were to be held. Behind him were three three-year-old girls who were completely identical. One of the girls stayed close to Ash as the other two ran ahead of him.

"Careful you two. Don't touch anything," Ash called.

"These must be the triplets, the ones who are allergic to everything in the book," Cleo said looking at the girls.

"Yeah, this is Alex and Ashley," Ash said pointing to the little girls who ran ahead. "And this is Aggie." He put his hand on the little girl's head that was standing next to him.

Cleo smiled at the girls as she took the decorations. She placed them on the table next to the cake.

"So I'm guess we are getting the girls ready," Cleo said.

"I have the flower girl dresses and I have Kim and Angela's bride's maid's dresses. I also have your dress." Ash said. "Ally and Annie will be here soon too. We will meet the twins and Claudia at the church."

"My dad already left and we'll meet him at the church. I guess we just need to pack up and get ready to leave, you know before the moon rises," Cleo said.

"I know, I promised Lewis you would be safe tonight," Ash said.

He then handed Cleo three little, pink dresses. They were for the triplets. There were also three light pink bride's maids' dresses. Cleo, who was the maid of honor, took one of the light pink dresses.

Just then Angela and Kim came into the kitchen to see the triplets and the dresses. Kim was wondering about the triplets while Angela stopped cold at the sight of the pink dresses.

"I'm not wearing that. It's pink. Gross," Angela commented.

"Angela, we don't have time for you to not want to do something. We need to get to the church," Cleo said getting the dresses and decorations in one arm and taking Aggie's hand with the other.

Ash took the cake with one hand and Ashley and Alex's hands. Then they all started out the door and to the church.

Lewis 

Lewis stood in front of his four brothers. They were all sitting in his room because Lewis called an emergency meeting. He need to discuses the way the acted before and after Rikki arrived.

"Look, guys, I know you love having mom and dad always out of the house and not having to pick up, but we now have a little problem with that. There is another girl in the house. Now, I know for a fact that, Rikki does not mind and is a little messy, but she also likes things… not wet," Lewis told his brothers.

"So you want us to clean up because Rikki, the queen, moved in. I'm not taking orders from her or you," Larry said.

"Dude, you don't want to mess with Rikki. I know, I have," Lewis told him.

"Look, you can't boss me around. I'm out," Larry said leaving the room.

Lewis looked at his other brothers sitting on his bed. They still didn't say anything. They were all watching the through down between Lewis and Larry.

"I'll clean up," Liam said trying to get his big brother's appreciation.

"Thank you Liam and Luke will you help him?"

"I'll help," Luke told him, and then he and Liam left.

"Look, I don't know if I should go along with you or Larry. I mean Larry does scare me, but you make a good point. I'll think about it," Lenny said leaving Lewis's room too.

_That didn't go well_ Lewis thought. He sat down on his bed. Then he heard a knock on his door. Rikki stuck her head in his room. Lewis jumped up.

"Rikki, come in and shut the door," Lewis greeted her.

"You talked to your brothers about cleaning up the half drunken drinks in the living room," Rikki asked.

"I'm working on that. You don't worry. Let me deal with my brothers," Lewis told her with a smile.

Rikki smiled then looked down. _This won't go well. _She thought.


	7. Chapter 7: The moon and the wedding

Chapter 7: The Moon and the Wedding 

Cleo finished dressing Aggie, Ashley, and Alex as Ash came in with Katrina, Kristina, and Claudia. They too were dressed for the wedding. Ash was holding Claudia's hand and keeping a close eye on Katrina and Kristina. Kim, Ally, Annie, and Angela were in the other room getting in there dresses. Cleo and Ash were already in there outfits. The moon had risen about two minutes ago.

"Great more identical people," Cleo said lifting Aggie off her lap. "Where is Annie?"

"She's with my mom, getting her instructions for singing." Ash explained.

Cleo nodded in understandment.

"Look, I need to get the rings. Can you just watch the kids for five secants?" Ash asked letting go of Claudia's hand. "Claudia is blind, as you should know, and the twins can be quite uncontrollable."

"I can handle the girls you get the rings," Cleo told him.

As soon as he left, Kim came out of the dressing room. She was not in her dress yet and looked mad. She was holding the tree dresses. She tossed them in front of Cleo and said, "My dress ripped, Ally's is the wrong size, and Angela refuses to wear hers."

As Kim said this Alex and Ashley were getting into the meat snacks that were set out. Katrina and Kristina were starting to run around chasing each other. Cleo was oblivious to anything that not going on inside her and Kim's conversation about the dresses until there was a crash behind her. She spun around to see Alex in the middle of a circle of broken glass and ham rowels. She was down on the floor with in the next secant.

Ash reentered the room to see Cleo sitting with Alex on her lap Aggie and Ashley close by. Kim, Angela, and Ally were still not in there dresses and the other three were sitting quietly on the other side of the room. There was still a mess of glass and ham next to the snack table. Ash set the rings down and went straight to Cleo and Alex. He was so caught up trying to get the triplets and the dress situation sorted out that he had turned his back on the twins and Claudia.

As Ash's back was turned Kristina and Katrina got up form the corner of the room and went to look at the wedding rings. Kristina pulled the very small bride's ring from the case and put it on her chubby finger. Ash turned just in time to see what she was doing and dropped the dress situation.

"Kristina, what on earth are you doing?" Ash said lifting the five-year-old girl up in the air and looked at the ring on her finger.

Cleo sat Alex on the floor with a paper towel around her cut finger and ran over to where Ash was inspecting the ring that was now stuck on the little girl's finger. Aggie stayed close to her as Ashley sat next to Alex. Aggie pulled on the end of Cleo's dress and said, "My tummy hurts."

Cleo got down to the three-year-old's level. She put her hand on Aggie's head. Then she called Ash down. He too felt her head. He looked up at Cleo.

"Um… Ash," Claudia spoke up from the back of the room. "Can I have something to drink?"

"Sure, I'll get you something," Ash said jumping up from in front of Aggie.

He picked Kristina back up and went to the snack table to get some juice. He then went to the back of the room to give it to Claudia. He helped her take the cup in her hand. Then he said, "Be carful It's red and will dye your dress."

Just then his phone rang. This in turn made Claudia jump and spill her juice all over her light pink dress. Ash sighed and answered his phone with Kristina still in his arms. It was Lewis.

"So, dude is everything ok there?" Lewis asked.

"Yeah, everything is fine… with Cleo," Ash told Lewis.

"What's not fine?" Lewis asked.

"Everything else," Ash answered still looking at the ring on Kristina's finger and Aggie next to Cleo. "Look, man, I have to go. Things are not perfect around here." Ash hung up his phone.

Just then Ashley, who was now standing next to Katrina, started to wale. Katrina had pinched her arm after Ashley made a comment about how Kristina was overreacting. Cleo lifted Aggie and went right to the crying three-year-old. Things were getting quite hard to handle around there. Between the two teens, they now had to deal with a ripped dress, a too small dress, a girl who won't wear her dress, a girl with a stained dress, a girl with the wedding ring stuck to her finger, a girl who is messing with her sister, a girl who was in tears, a girl with a cut finger, and a girl who was sick.

Ash looked around at all that was going on then asked, "Thing can't get much worse, can they?"

"With all that is going on, I don't think anything else could go wrong," Cleo told him setting Aggie on the couch and turned around.

With all that was going on the teens forgot to cover all the windows. There was one window that didn't get covered completely. Un to the teens' luck it was a great window to have moonlight come though.

Right after Cleo set Aggie down; she spun around and stopped in her tracks. The moon came in through the window, and Cleo caught a glimpse of it.

"Cleo… oh no," Ash said looking at Cleo. "That is how it could get worse."

Emma and Zane 

Emma smiled as she watched Zane from behind his door. Zane had not seen her yet. She giggled and froze the water on the ends of Zane's wet hair. He started to shiver at the sudden drop in tempter. Zane jumped up to find Emma in a gaze sitting on the floor in front of his room.

"You are going to be the most annoying roommate ever," Zane said taking Emma by the arm and taking her back to her room.

Just as he escorted her onto her bed, her phone rang. Zane picked it up off her desk and looked at the caller id. It was Lewis, checking in. He put the phone on silent and placed it back on her desk. That is when he noticed the English paper on her desk. He picked it up and read the title. It was "The Sun on a Hot Day." It was one of the most boring stories Zane had ever read, not that he's read many stories. Then He saw the one under it. Other then the mention of mermaids at the end, it was great. To his surprise, it looked like Emma was going to turn in the bad one. So he quickly switched the papers and put the story about diving into the ocean in Emma's English folder to turn in. _Em will thank me for this. _He thought. 


	8. Chapter 8: fights and messes

Chapter 8: Fights and Messes 

"Ok, apparently we should not call Ash because things are going crazy at his party, and we've lost all contact with Emma. Her phone is off. To me, this is really bad," Lewis told Rikki who was sitting on her bed listening to him and her cousins fight out outside the room.

"Don't worry. I believe Em is fine. She must have shut her phone off when she went to bed or let it die. She is quite carful," Rikki said standing up for her friend. "As for Cleo, If Ash says she's fine, I guess she's fine. Things might not be going well. He does tell the truth a lot."

There was silence in the room. Well almost silence. The boys were still fighting outside and getting louder by the secant. Those boys could not go four minutes with out fighting. This was starting to get on Rikki's nerves.

"Why won't those boys give it a brake?" Rikki asked Lewis.

"Liam and Luke, they hate each other. They are like fire and ice… you and Emma." Lewis explained. "They'll stop when Larry gets home. He acts like the king of the house because my parents are never home."

"And you just let him. Why don't you do anything about it?"

"If you have not noticed, I'm not strong, and I let my girlfriend fight my fights."

"I thought that was just because Cleo is stronger than you, wait, that is pretty bad," Rikki said with a laugh. "Let me try to reason with him."

"No! That would not be a good idea. Larry can get violent. Like I said before, I'm not going to save your butt," Lewis said.

Just then the boys stopped yelling. There was a silence then two door slams. Lewis peeked out the door, to see Lenny and Larry talking. Then they started yelling and then there was another door slam.

"That's it!" Rikki yelled getting up off her bed. "I can't take the constant fighting. I'm going to do something about it."

Lewis grabbed her arm and pulled her back down. She quickly got back up and pulled away from Lewis. She then opened her door and became face to face with Lenny the-big-bad-king. He was at least a foot taller then her and defiantly not in a good mood.

"What do you want? I'm a bit busy," Lenny said pushing Rikki out of the way.

Rikki grabbed his arm, held it tight and said, "Doing what, killing your brothers? That's sounds like it won't get you into trouble."

"Why would you care? Do you want me to kill you?" Larry asked.

By now both Lewis and Lenny have come out into the hall. Lenny was ready to see her get killed and Lewis wanted to keep her safe. Larry took Rikki's arm and was about to flip her, when she grabbed his hand and in return flipped him. The other boys were in shock. Even Liam and Luke came out of there rooms to see what she did. Everyone, even Lewis, could not believe what Rikki just did.

"I guess Lewis and I are not the only ones in this family who can get beat-up by a girl," Lenny said with a laugh.

At the wedding (Cleo and Ash) 

Ash looked at what he was now dealing with. Aggie was now lying on the couch with Ashley sitting crossed legged at the end. Kristina was still admiring the ring on her finger with Katrina standing behind her. Alex, whose finger had stopped bleeding, was sitting next to Claudia, whose dress still had a red stain down the front. Angela, who had finally gotten in her dress, was standing next to Kim and Ally, who were still wearing their street clothes. Cleo was standing next to Ash with this gaze in her eyes.

Just then there was an unexpected knock at the door and Don calling, "Cleo, Ash are things ok? Can I come in?"

Ash looked around and then answered, "Not really."

"What's wrong? It can't be worse then what we are dealing with. Your mom's dress ripped," Don told Ash.

"So did Kim's and Ally's is the wrong size," Ash explained.

"Is too small or too big?"

"Too small, it's really tight," Ally answered her soon to be step-dad.

"Then let Kim wear that one. Ally, just wear your street clothes," Don said. "We need the rings now."

"Um the rings… I'll get them to you in… 10 minutes. I just need to do one more thing with them. Please come back for them." Ash said looking over at Kristina.

While Kim changed, Ash took another look at Alex's finger. It was swollen and turning red. _This is what I was afraid of. They are allergic to the minerals in glass. _Ash thought.

He looked back at Cleo, who was now sitting at the window. She looked so sweet, but Ash remembered that Lewis said she might looked sweet but could kill him in one move.

Ash went to sit next to Aggie and Ashley. Aggie had fallen asleep, which could actually be a good thing. Ashley, on the other hand, looked board out of her mind.

Just then Ash noticed something on the snack table next to Don's ring. It was a plate of butter. _That would be a great way to get the ring off _Ash thought. He jumped up and garbed it. The twins and the pre-teens looked up. Ash then ran over to Kristina. This in turn made Cleo turn around to see what he was doing. Ash kneeled down in front of Kristina and pulled her hand up. He rubbed a little butter over it and tried to slide it off. It took awhile, but the ring eventually slid right off the five-year-old's finger.

Right on cue, Don knocked on the door again. This time though, he just walked in to see what was going on. Ash quickly put the buttered ring in its case and handed both rings to Don.

"What's going on?" Don asked.

Ash thought for a secant then said, "Aggie is feeling a bit sick and Alex cut her finger. I think they should stay her. Maybe Cleo and Ally can watch them."

Ash thought that Alex would fall asleep soon, and Cleo would just stay by the window that maybe this would turn out ok. Lucky for him, Don agreed.

Now standing outside, Niela walking down the isle, Ashley standing next to Kristina, Katrina standing next to Angela and Kim, Annie singing with her soft voice, Don standing at the alter, Ash thought about all the troubles there would be with their family of 14, medical, pre-teen, kid, and mermaid. With all this, he would barley have time for himself. He was so caught up in his own thoughts, that he did not notice the bowel, now filled with the melted ice sculpture, was starting to rock.

"You may now kiss the bride," The usher said as Don leaned in to kiss Niela.

Just as their lips touched, the bowl tipped completely over spilling water on both Niela and Don. They looked up at the stand the bowl was sitting on. They were completely soaked in their lovely wedding clothes. Ash was gone before anyone started asking what happened. He ran all the way back to the kid's room to see Cleo standing there with a smile, Alex and Aggie asleep on the couch, and Ally asleep on the floor. Ash sighed and thought _this will be a fun family. _


	9. Chapter 9: school and home

Chapter 9: School and Home (_The two places anyone under the age of 18 will be found) _

Cleo awoke in a white room. There were many empty chairs then one with Ash sitting in it right across from her. She sat up which made Ash jump a little. It was 8am and the moon had set almost an hour ago.

"What's going on?" Cleo asked.

"Well let's just say this wasn't the best wedding for our parents. Now we are in the hospital, waiting for word on Aggie. Alex's finger is fine now and they have Ashley back there too," Ash explained.

"Where are the others?" Cleo asked.

"Across the street in an old, hotel, which will be our new home," Ash told her. "You know this is Grange Street. You know the street with the big but easy to afford homes. It also has an orphanage, a nursing home, and a homeless shelter. It's a really great place," Ash told her. "The others will be back in time for us to go to school."

Cleo looked around. There were doctors with clipboards, holding coffee, or talking to parents. Still even though this was the children's section, it was quit white. There was nothing on the walls, no paintings or children's drawings or anything colorful.

Just then a nurse came out and walked up to Ash. Ashley and Alex were right behind her. She smiled and introduced herself as Hannah May, the triplets' personal nurse. She worked with two other kids with the same medical problem as the triplets and was telling Ash about a program where the girls would come to the hospital after pre-school and hangout with Jessie and Maryann.

As Ash was talking to Hannah, the parents came in with Claudia on their heels. They went right over to Hannah to talk about the after school program for the triplets. Ash motioned for Cleo to follow him. They headed out and across the street to a big house with a truck parked outside. Ash opened the door and the teens walked inside the half empty hotel/house and grabbed their school bags. Then they started off to school.

Emma and Zane 

Emma's alarm clock went off at 8am. She sat up and looked around the perfectly normal guest room. Nothing seemed to be different, so why did everything seem so unfamiliar. Well there was the fact that she was not in her old room. She looked up to the door way and there stood Zane.

"You're up. That's good. School starts in an hour," Zane told her.

"What happened last night?" Emma asked.

"Not much, get ready," Zane said turning around, smiling, then leaving the door way.

Emma jumped out of bed and got dressed in a white miniskirt and a blue tank top and started to go through the homework on the desk. She put her math book, math journal, Spanish workbook, social studies book, and English folder in her school bag. She didn't even bother to check her English easy. Then she ran down stairs to see Zane and Elliot sitting at the table eating breakfast.

"Over slept again?" Elliot asked.

"No, I was just working on… a homework… thing," Emma told him sitting down and grabbing a plate.

"Did that include not brushing your hair? It's sticking up in a really funny way," Zane pointed out as Elliot laughed.

Emma turned and looked at her hair in the mirror. She quickly grabbed a hair brush off the island and started rapidly bushing her hair. Then she set it back down and sat right in front of Zane. She gave him a look that said you're-impossible and grabbed a piece of toast. She ate it quickly and ran out the door.

"She's never late, is she," Zane asked Elliot who nodded.

Zane got up and started for school. He had to run to keep up with Emma and end the end gave up. She was already at her locker when he finally made it to the school. Cleo and Rikki were not far behind her, coming up out of no where. Lewis was right on their heels with Ash right behind him.

"So, how was everyone's night?" Lewis asked.

"I don't know. I'll tell you when we get the damages bill," Ash answered.

Everyone looked at him like he said a volcano will cause the ocean to burn up.

"That sounds… really bad. What on earth happened?" Lewis asked after 10 secants of silence.

"Nothing good, that's for shore. Aren't we going to be late? I have to get to class," He said running off in the opposite direction.

Cleo just shrugged as they said good-bye to Lewis and Zane who then started off to math class. Emma, Cleo, and Rikki straggled into science.

After the torturous day of no stop projects and work, they finally made it to their last class of the day, for Emma, Lewis, and Cleo, English. Emma and Cleo sat in the back behind Lewis, as they always. They took out their folders and started through their home work.

"Ok, everyone put your stories in the basket," Mrs. Penny Ceil said as everyone in the class got up and placed their papers in the metal basket on her desk.

Emma turned her easy in without even looking at it. She still had no idea it was switched.

"Ok I am going to start going through these, partner up and read the thirteenth chapter of _Wish You Well._" Mrs. Penny Ceil instructed.

Emma and Cleo turned right toward each other and took out their novels. They turned to the page and quickly read the chapter. They were finish before anyone else and started to talk about anything but English. They kept up with their conversation, as did every other group in the class, until Mrs. Ceil stood up and announced she had something to say.

"I just read the best easy ever. The writer will stay ammoniums, but I just had to let you hear the story." She said picking up the paper and started to read. "It's not the jump. It's never the jump. It's the feeling that comes over me as I fall deeper and deeper, the feeling of never coming up, and not being able to breath. I close my eyes and let the water roll over my skin and touching every part of my body. I let it rush its way to my head, covering even the top most part of my hair. Still it's not until… It stops there but still isn't it great, just like reading one of Sophie's stories?"

Emma's jaw dropped. She could not believe her ears. That was her story and not the one she believed to have turned in, but the one she left on the desk in the room she was staying in. Someone had switched the stories, and she was pretty sure she knew who. _Zane is going to get it. _She thought.


	10. Chapter 10:looking up and beating down

Chapter 10: Looking Up and Beating Down 

Rikki straggled into her aunt's house after school. Luke and Liam were in the living room, which was wetter then ever. They jumped up when they saw her enter the room.

"Rikki, Larry is in his room, and he is madder than ever," Luke whispered with his little brother nodding the whole time.

"And what do you want me to do?" Rikki asked.

"Beat him up. Like last time, when you flipped him," Liam said.

"He is not hurting anyone. Now if could excuse me, I've had a long day," Rikki said pushing the two boys out of her way and heading down the hall, at the other end of the living room, to her room.

She walked past Luke's room which was across from Liam's room which was next to Lenny's room which was across from the bathroom which was next to Larry's room which was across from the parents' room which was next to Rikki's room which was across from Lewis's room. Rikki tip-toed past Larry's room. She did not want to annoy the easily annoyed man. It did not work. Larry came out of his room, more upset now that Rikki had showed the little boys she was stronger than him. He smiled evilly at the girl, who showed him up. There was a long pause.

"Well, well, well, if it's not the princess who flipped me last night. Should I call you queen Rikki now or is that too much," Larry finally said in a sarcastic way.

"No, just Rikki will do," Rikki said pushing past Larry to get to her room.

He stopped her. He took her by the shoulder and made it so she could no get free. Then he said, "I don't like it when people think they are better than me."

"Well you will have to deal with it, because I am," Rikki said getting free from Larry's grasp and walking over to her room. "For a 22-year-old, you are very week."

Cleo and Ash 

Cleo walked into her new home. Ashley was running back and forth from the kitchen to the living room. She had trays with everything from water to ice-cream Sundays on them. Aggie was lying on the couch with a cold compress on her head. Alex was sitting next to her with a paper fan going a mile a minute.

She started up the stairs to the second floor. There she saw Claudia and Annie in the first room playing with toys. The next room had a computer and a desk yet to be set up. There were also some empty rooms, which she guessed were the guest rooms. She then wet up the next set of stairs to the third floor. There were rooms in pares of two with bathrooms connecting them. Ally and Kim were sharing, Angela with Aggie, Alex with Ashley, Katrina with Kristina, Annie with Claudia and Cleo with Ash. Even though Ash was Emma's boyfriend, he was not going to get agitated that he was sharing a bathroom with Cleo.

Cleo stepped into her room which was almost completely set up. There was a noise in the bathroom which's door was open. She walked over to it and saw Niela putting something over the sink which was suppose to be hers. Niela stepped back as Cleo looked around. There were mermaids everywhere, mermaid stickers, mermaid mobiles, even a mermaid painting above the sink which kind of looked like her. On the other side there were surfers and a picture of a surfer who looked like Ash. At that moment Ash walked in. He was in shock.

"What do you two think?" Niela asked.

"It's great, mom, we love it," Ash answered, for Cleo could not find her voice.

"I knew you would love it," Niela said leaving the room.

Cleo was still speechless. She could not get over the mermaids now in her sight.

"Cleo, are you ok?" Ash asked.

"This place is like looking into a scary mirror. Why in the world did Niela do this?" Cleo asked walking back to her room and starting to go through her boxes and putting things away.

"She just wants to make us happy. She tends to treat everyone like they are 6," Ash said.

Cleo nodded and took a few dresses from the box and hung them in her closet. Then she looked back to see Ash going back to his room. He then turned around and said, "We should keep our doors open so we can always get in touch with each other no madder what."

Then he was out of sight.

Emma and Zane 

Emma ran into the house, lucky the parents are never home, and started yelling Zane's name. Zane came down the stairs to find Emma standing there with this very upset look on her face. He did not like the look.

"What's wrong, Ice Princess?" Zane asked.

"You switched my eases! How could you do such a thing? That easy was privet. I just wrote it to get a hang of writing descriptive. It was not to be read by anyone," Emma yelled at Zane.

"The one I made you turn in was way better than the one you were going to turn in. I took of the part about mermaids. I thought I was doing you a favor," Zane explained to her.

"Well it was mine. Why on earth did you think you had permission to go through my homework," Emma said, her voice getting louder with every word.

"It was supposed to be a surprise. I didn't think you needed permission for a surprise," Zane said, his voice rising too.

Just then the phone rang. Zane ran the rest of the way down the stairs and grabbed it. "Hello… oh of course, her she is," Zane said giving the phone to Emma.

"Hello," Emma said into the phone.

"Emma, it's Mrs. Ceil. I was wondering If I might be able to enter you story into the Junior Writers contest," the person on the other end said.

"You really think it's that good?" Emma asked walking away from Zane. "I mean, I turned it in accidently. I didn't think anyone would like it."

"Well it is one of the best stories I have ever read. I can enter it anomalously. What do you say?" Mrs. Ceil asked.

"That sounds great," Emma said. "And you won't put my name on it?"

"Not if you don't want me to. Look I have to go. I will defiantly enter your story and contact you if you win." Mrs. Penny Ceil said hanging up.

_Really, my story. She liked my story. That is so cool. _Emma thought.


	11. Chapter 11:Apoligies and pictures

_A/N: I just wanted to ask people to __**REVIEW! **__If you see a word that is spelled wrong I would love it if you tell me so I can change it. I know I can't spell. If you have any advice please tell me. If you have any ideas please tell me. Thank You for your support. _

Chapter 11: Apologies and Pictures 

Emma sat in her room mumbling to herself about what had happened that day. "I could not tell Zane. But if I win, he finds out. If I just apologize then he will think I'm too weak to fight. But I was wrong he was right and I was mean to him about it."

"Are you talking to yourself?" Zane asked tapering at the doorway.

Emma looked to him and said, "Yeah, Who else can I trust in this house?"

Zane gave her a nasty look. Then he walked in to her room and sat down next to her. "Look I have to say I'm sorry. I should have asked before I did what I did. You were right, and I am sorry," he said with a serious look on his face.

Emma smiled, but didn't do anything else. After two minutes of silence Zane left, leaving Emma regretting everything she had done in the last three hours. She looked up at the white sealing and started to think. Then she went over to the desk and read her other essay. _Zane was right. The other essay was much better. _Emma thought throwing that work in the trash.

Ash at the Juice Net Café 

Ash finished cleaning off the tables when there was a knock on the Juice Net door. The tired teen went to answer it to find Nate standing there. He was holding a small box and when Ash answered the door he told him he was working on a project for science.

"Look you need to lock up when you are done and be here at 6am to give me that key back. Got it?" Ash told Nate as he left.

Nate smiled holding the key. He set the box down and looked around the café. _This is the best plan I have ever thought up. _He thought. The place was perfect and at 6am not only would Juice boy see the posters, so would his princess of a girlfriend. _And If I'm lucky so would that Angel and her wimpy boyfriend, Lewis. _Nate thought with a smile. _This is perfect. If only other people could see them before they were taken down. _

Just then Nate got an even more brilliant idea. He took out his mobile phone and started rapidly texting everyone he knew. _Be at the Juice Net at 6am to see a wonderful surprise! _He put his phone away and started to think of everyone's reaction to this.

6am at the Juice Net Café 

Ash smiled to see Nate kept to his word, for once. There as he walked up was Nate sitting there, smile on his face, like something was funny. Ash had yet to round the corner and see what he was laughing at, but as soon as he did his jaw dropped. I front of him were posters and posters of he and Cleo on the night of the dinner and the wedding together. They looked like they were on a date. This was terrible. Everyone would see them and believe they were both cheating. Too late to take them down, there was a large crowd of teens from school. They were not only surprised, but mad as well.

Ash thought he could be quick to take them down before Emma or Lewis saw and that would save him and Cleo from explaining everything to their friends. Too late, Emma had just rounded the corner and saw everything. She did not have a very pleasant look. In fact she looked as if she was about to cry. With out even a word to Ash, Emma was gone.

Ash turned around to see almost the same look on Cleo's face, who had just walked up. The only difference was Cleo was crying and she walked up to Ash. Through her tears she said, "And I thought for once you would be a great brother." Then, just like Emma, Cleo was gone.

As Ash started to take the posters down, Zane walked up and took one out of his hands. He examined it then looked back toward ash with a questionable look. The he asked, "Are these computer made or did some one pay you?"

"There are real, and not what you think," Ash said taking the poster back.

"What are they then?" Zane asked taking the poster back from Ash.

"They are from… that party," Ash answered grabbing the last poster from the wall. "You know the one our parents made us go to."

"You both are wearing two different outfits. See, Cleo is in a pink dress in this one and white in this one," Zane pointed as Rikki came up.

Rikki took the poster and took a look at it, then looked back to Ash. She did not look happy. She then asked, "What are these?"

"Just some pictures," Ash answered as Lewis walked up.

He quickly took the poster from Rikki and hid it next to the others. Just in time because Lewis was there before you could say "There's Lewis." He was confused with Rikki's look toward Ash and asked, "What's going on?"

"Nothing is going on," Ash said quickly.

"Someone put up these posters that make it look like Cleo and Ash are dating," Zane said grabbing one of the posters and showing Lewis.

Lewis looked at the posters and then back at Ash. He looked almost as upset as Cleo and Emma.

"Ok look, this is what is going on. These pictures are from a dinner… when my mom told my sisters and me that she was getting married to Cleo's dad," Ash told them pointing to the picture of Cleo in the white sun dress. "Then this one is of us at the wedding… or party as you guys knew of it before." He pointed to the picture of Cleo in the pink dress.

"YOU'RE SIBLINGS," everyone yelled in surprise, "and you didn't tell us."

Ash looked down at his feet. He didn't think it sounded that bad till he heard it out loud from his friends. This was not going well.

"How did Emma take it?" Rikki asked.

"She ran away," Ash said hesitantly.

"Where's Cleo?" Lewis asked.

"Don't know. She ran away too. They did not like seeing the posters," Ash told him.

As soon as Lewis heard this, he too was gone. Both Rikki and Zane turned around and watched them go. Then Rikki was off too. Ash and Zane watched as they ran off to find their friends.


	12. Chapter 12: finding and losing

Chapter 12: Finding What's Right and Losing What's Wrong 

Lewis jumped in his boat. The thought of having Cleo run away and get her self into danger again was painful. He still had the visions of her weak and powerless against those sharks in that cave. As he raced to Mako, Lewis prayed she was safe.

Rikki was gone fast as soon as she heard that her friends ran away. Like Lewis, She remembered what Cleo had done before when she ran away. Rikki, on the other hand, knew more about both girls and knew what they both were probably thinking at that moment. She also knew both of them would be mortally devastated. She had to find them.

Lewis parked on Mako, knowing exactly where to look first. He sprinted through the woods, just barely avoiding trees and large rocks. As soon as he reached the stream where the cave opening was, he slid down and ran over to the pool. No one was there. Lewis got down on his knees just as Rikki swam in.

"They are not here! That is weird. Where else do you thing they could be?" she asked.

"I don't know, but I'll take the land you take the sea," Lewis said.

"Ok, just don't ever say it that way again. You sound like a cheese song," Rikki said before she swam out of the cave.

Zane 

After Lewis and Rikki ran off, Zane decided that he too should look for Emma. Without thinking, he started to run home. On his way, he past the spot on the beach that was closed off to most people. There was a sound coming from that direction that did not sound like a normal animal. He turned toward the rock, which look almost like a wall, and peered over. There he saw what looked like a brunet haired girl crunched over in a ball. Her hair was pined up in a bandanna head ban and flowed down her back. She was wearing a jean mini skirt and a pink tank top.

At first Zane thought that the girl look like Cleo, but then noticed that her outfit was different from the one Cleo was wearing earlier and her hair was up in a style that Cleo would never wear. Still he jumped over the rock to speak with the upset girl.

She did not turn around at the sound of him landing behind her but jumped when he said, "Is something wrong."

The girl turned around, and then face to face with Zane, he realized that the girl was Cleo. She locked nothing like she normally would, with a new shirt, skirt, bandanna, and shoes. Her eyes were red from crying, and there were tears on her cheeks.

"Cleo, what are you doing here and what happen to your other clothes?" Zane asked her.

"I changed," she said through her tears. "I also can be alone here."

"I think I know what is wrong. You think Lewis will be mad about you living with Ash." Zane sat down next to Cleo.

"No… Emma will be mad that I lied. I never lied to her before. Anyway, she still won't like the idea." Cleo wiped her eyes with her hands then looked at Zane.

"I don't think she will be that mad. I mean if you have never lied to her, then I guess she has never lied to you."

"No… she has not."

Zane smiled. "What if I said she has?"

Cleo looked at him with a confused expression. "I guess I would fell a little better."

"That's good, because she… and I have not told you guys the whole truth either."

Rikki and Lewis 

Lewis watch as Rikki ran up the beach towards him. It was already obvious that she had not found Emma or Cleo yet.

"I'm getting worried. Where do you think they might be?" Lewis asked.

"I don't know. They, I mean Emma, would not hide from us for long," Rikki said.

"And Cleo would."

"She has," Rikki pointed out as she started to walk down the beach.

Lewis followed, thinking that where ever she might be going would help them find the other girls. The two kept up the beach until rocks blocked their way.

"Rikki where on earth are you going," Lewis asked taking Rikki by the shoulder.

She shrugged and headed into the forest. Lewis regrettably followed. They dogged low branches, and spider webs. The forest was dense on these parts of the island. The two teens were up ageist a lot to get through the forest without getting hurt. Lewis started to think that Rikki was only leading him into a dead end. He believed that they were secants from being lost. Rikki was thinking about finding one of the girls, who could be anywhere. She knew for a fact that Cleo would go anywhere to hide from people when she was overly upset. She had before.

After awhile the two teens heard a noise. It sounded like sobbing tied in with a whispering. Nether one of them could figure out where the sound was coming from. There was nothing but trees around them, no rocks to hide behind, and no large trees that would hide someone easily.

Rikki stood still for a secant, just listening to the sound and figuring out which way it was coming from. Lewis spun in a slow circle. He took in the area. Then he pointed toward an empty part of the woods and said, "I think it is coming from that way."

Lewis started off in his direction with Rikki close on his heels. They had not gotten far when they saw the none mistakable seen of straight blond hair. A girl sat behind a medium sized rock. She was turned toward the small stream that ran through the island. She was so rapped up in what she was thinking about, that she did not notice Rikki or Lewis behind her.

"Hello," Lewis said slowly.

The girl turned around to show the teens that she was Emma. Rikki went over to her and sat down.

"Are you ok?" Rikki asked.

Emma looked at her, with tears in her eyes. She did not speak.

"Emma, it is not how you think. Those pictures are from their parents wedding," Lewis explained. "Would I be so ok if it wasn't?"

"They're siblings?" Emma asked.

Rikki nodded just as Lewis's phone started to ring. He answered it. The longer he sat on the phone the more shocked his facial expression became. Then he looked toward Rikki and said, "Luke is hurt."


	13. Chapter 13:The sick and needy

Chapter 13: The Sick and the Needy 

Lewis, Rikki, and Emma raced to the hospital to meet Lewis's brothers. They were in the waiting room of the children's floor. His parents were on the way.

Luke had fallen off of his bike, while riding around the park, with only carefree Lenny to take care of him. The fall was predictable. What wasn't predictable was the injury that the fall created. Luke had broken his right leg in three places, twisted his left ankle, and sprained his right wrist. Lenny was shocked when he found out.

The three teens came in to see the doctor talking with Lenny. Liam was sitting on the floor by the chairs. He jumped up when he saw Rikki come in.

"Larry is coming. He is going to kill me," Liam said grabbing Rikki's leg.

Emma looked confused as she watched her friend hopelessly try to pull the five-year-old off her leg. Liam held strong.

"Liam I doubt your brother would kill you. Please get off my leg, now," Rikki told her cousin as she lightly pushed him off her leg.

Lewis took Lenny's place talking to the doctor. He told them about how bad the breaks were and how Luke would probably have to stay over night. As they spoke, Ash walked through the room. He was picking up the triplets and stopped when he saw his girlfriend and her two friends. Emma looked over at him and the three little girls and started in their direction.

"I'm sorry," She started. "I should have let you explain."

"No, I sorry," Ash explained. "I should have just told you. And don't blame Cleo. It wasn't her fault. I kind of asked her to lie to you and the others."

"Really, Ash It's ok. I've been kind of keeping something from you. Like the fact I'm staying with Zane." Emma said this just as Rikki was coming up from behind her.

"I think it's going to get mushy," Alex said to her sisters.

"Girls, why don't you three go sit on the chairs over there, let me talk," Ash said pushing Alex over to the waiting aria sure the other two would follow. Then he looked over to the two girls.

"So I guess we have all been lying," Rikki started.

"What have you been lying about?" Emma asked.

"About living with me," Lewis said coming up behind the other three teens.

Cleo 

Cleo sat in her kitchen, keeping an eye on the twins and Annie. Claudia was at extra classes while the pre-teens were at every after school program you could think of. Her dad and Niela were at work.

Cleo watched as her three "sisters" played with a doll pool filled with water in the living room. She knew it was going tip and spill any secant. As she predicted, it did. _That is it. _Cleo thought _this house needs some rules or someone will get hurt. _

She took out a pen and a piece of paper. She started with the rule, "No water outside of the kitchen or bathroom." That would keep her safe. Then she came up with, "The house has to be spotless and in order." That would keep the triplets and Claudia from germs and tripping. "No going into anyone else's room," was her next rule. That would keep anyone from sneaking around behind other's backs. She also came up with the rule, "Don't bother anyone doing homework." Cleo believed that these rule would keep the house running smooth and keep the kids from getting hurt.

Then she stopped. She thought about lies and her talk with Zane only half an hour ago. She was trying to keep the thought out of her mind but it kept coming back. It was just something she could not wrap her head around. Emma lying. It wasn't something that happened often.

Just then the door bell rang. The twins jumped up from the mess they were cleaning up with Annie and ran to the door. Still they did not open it until Cleo was right behind them, for safety rezones. A girl and a boy, no older than Claudia, stood there. They both had dark red hair and green eyes. The girl wore a light blue, floral dress that came down to her knees and black flats. The boy had on a blue collared shirt with nice black pants and fancy black shoes. They looked like twins, if not brother and sister.

"Good evening," The girl greeted, obviously taught manners over the years. "I'm Ginger and this is my brother Grayson. We live next door and were wondering if you would like to join us to see Mrs. Fay down at the nursing home. She has the most wonderful stories about every house on this street."

At the sound of the word stories the twins jumped and looked to Cleo for permission. Cleo had no reason why the four of them could not go so she got the little ones coats on and they followed their next door neighbors down the street to the nursing home. On the way Ginger explained some about her and Grayson's family, about how most of the kids are adopted and over the age of 10, and the other families living on the street, most being somewhat like theirs. It was amazing to learn how many people had big families and medical problems for more than two of the members.

When Cleo and her sisters met Mrs. Fay, she took a long look at Cleo and smiled. There was something in that smile that said she knew something Cleo didn't. Her story told nothing of herself. Only of the houses and the people who had once lived in them. As Ginger had said, the story was interesting, and held a lot about the history of Grange Street. It was also insisting to see all the kids who come out to hear what an older woman had to say. When Cleo lived in her old house the oldest person she had seen younger kids with were there parents, and even they were still young.

After the story and Meeting everyone who lived on Grange Street, Cleo led her sisters back to their house. She opened the door to find Ash and her friends there. Annie and the twins took the hint and ran up stairs as Cleo sat down next to Ash. They all looked tense and agile.

"So I guess we all know why we are here." Ash asked, starting the meeting.

"Not really," Cleo answered, just coming in on all of this.

"Well," Ash continued, "We all have been lying to each other and I believe it is time for us to tell the truth."

Everyone nodded before they went one.

"Ok we'll start," Lewis said, motioning toward Rikki. "We are cousins."

"And because my dad is in the city looking for work, I'm staying with him," Rikki finished.

No one spoke for a secant. Then Emma spoke up, "Well then everyone must know that I'm staying with Zane."

"And of course everyone knows that Cleo and I are siblings. If we weren't we all would not be here," Ash said, which got a giggle out of everyone.

There was a silence before Emma said, "We need to make a pact, no more lies, and no more secrets, agreed?"

Everyone nodded.

"Wow, this will be a complicated life," Ash said, making everyone else laugh.


	14. Sequels to BFB

Best Friend's Boyfriend Sequels 

_These are a few sequel ideas I have had for Best Friend's Boyfriend. I would like to know which you like the best. Just PM me or Review this chapter to tell me which one I should write. There will also be a story of one-shots coming after BFB. _

The Switch 

Rikki is getting annoyed with the boys. Ash is fed up with the little girls. What would happen if they switched houses for a week? Who would last longer in the other's shoes?

Secrets of the Show 

There are three famous Actresses staying with Ash and Cleo. Why? And why do they seem to know Cleo better than any of her friends? What secret past is Cleo hiding and how will it affect her now?

Side Shows 

There is a carnival at the Marine Park and Rikki and Cleo get roped into performing. After a scientist notices her, Cleo is asked to help her with a secret project that she can't tell anyone about. What will happen if this project will hurt her and her friends?

Pageant Wars

Cleo's family enters a pageant to win money for the family. Rikki and her cosines enter the same pageant with the goal to be one of the best families in the country. But soon competition takes over the two mermaids and they have a sudden erg to beat the other. With Emma and Zane the hosts, this will be a show no one will forget.

Club Four 

While on a date to a roller skating rink, Zane, Emma, and Cleo see four people they knew when they were young and they bring back sad memories for the four. But why are they keeping their feelings from their friends.

Electives 

After their elective was canceled, Emma, Cleo, Rikki, Lewis, Zane, and Ash have to join a mythical studies class. Joining them is Miriam, Charlotte, and some new faces. Not long after joining the class everyone is put into groups and given projects, and the girls start to wonder about their teacher when all the projects seem to relate them to their normal, mermaid lifestyle. 


End file.
